Poli 204 discussion question

If there is a community in Quebec that has a majority of English then they can fund schools for the official language of that community. It was then ruled out that Bill 101 violated Canada’s constitution. The new Charter gave Anglophones equal rights in French Canada as it did in English. By easing tensions between Canada and Aboriginals and French and English, Canada achieved a just society.

During the 1960s, Quebec nationalism changed to focus on reform and independence. These changes effected French-English relations in many ways. First, Quebec’s new independent attitude caused tension between French and English Canadians because of many reforms brought in by the Lesage government. Secondly, Quebec’s new attitude also tried to improve French-English relations with the creation of the Bi and Bi Commission. Also, Quebec’s government started to make decisions on their own which didn’t sit very well with the Canadian government. “The government embarked on a series of reforms that altered substantially conditions in Quebec: … creation of the Quebec Pension Plan (1965) … The second source of tension has already been pointed out: the Lesage government brought in many

From the Confederation of Canada, to present day, French Canadians have always thought that Canada's path towards the future should be embodied in a different manner. Several events in Canadian History have resulted in several heated feelings between French and English Canadians. Though the majority of English Speaking Canadians have tried to reconcile with French Canadians by making several attempts to mend their relationships, the question about the needs of French Canadians still exists. Through an extremely thorough analysis of several key sources, it is evident that the needs of French Canadians were, undoubtedly, not met, which shall be plainly and exhaustively proven through an in depth analysis of French Canadian Nationalism,

English and French Canadians have had years of disagreements and the Quebec Referendum of 1995 proves how separate both really are. The Quebec Referendum of 1995 was the second referendum to ask voters in the province of Quebec whether or not Quebec should declare national sovereignty and become an independent country. The Quebec Referendum of 1995 was a defining moment in Canadian History that emphasized the disunity between Quebec and the rest of Canada. With the alienation of Québec, the Parti Quebecois advocating for national sovereignty, and Lucien Bouchard taking over the leadership of the "Yes" side from Parizeau causing the “Yes” side to get momentum, are all examples of how this historic event emphasized the disunity between Quebec and the rest of Canada.

Though the separatist movements came very close to achieving their goal, the steady actions of PM Chrétian show a change in attitude towards French Canadians in within the country. The fact that Chrétian managed to succeed in keeping Quebec from separating further proves that the perspective of cultural differences in Canada started to develop for the better. The language rights within Canada add depth to the sincere maturity and growth that Canada has experienced in the years after WWII. Some direct impacts were the immediate enactments of French policies within the federal government, and indirectly the language rights reduced tension within all of Canada and mainly Quebec. Over the years, language rights have helped the country learn to blend itself back into a bilingual nation of acceptance and diversity. Canada, during the years after WWII, managed to stop the cultural bond between the French and the English from further deteriorating and helped to repair previous bruises by accepting Quebec’s ideas and beliefs, by enacting language rights, and through Chrétian’s active attendance to maintaining the balance between French and English

Though the beginning of the separatist movement was marred by fighting and violence, the vast majority of the conflict has been a political one. The reason for the revolution in Quebec stems from the restrictions placed upon the populace by the English. These restrictions were on both the language and culture of the Quebecois, and caused them to feel trapped in under the English rule, for lack of a better term. This revolution is on a much less certain foot than the others however, with many of the younger citizens not remember the restrictions of days

Since 1867, when Canada became a country, French and English relations have been one of the biggest issues in Canada. Throughout the decades, the debates and clashes between the French and the English Canadians led to increasing tension that threatened separation and disorder throughout the country. Through history, there were many occasions which weakened the bond of the two denominations. There are three defining moments that worsened the French and English relations. One of these events is the conscription crisis in World War I, which was a major political crisis that caused tension between the two groups.

Among the other five regions of Canada, Quebec is the only one whose majority is francophone. Quebec society features a culture conflict that is the basis and evident of one of Bone’s faultlines. That faultline in the Quebec region is the French/English fautline. This fautline is currently active; today many people living in Quebec speak both French and English. The fact that one fifth of the population does not speak French is still significant because things would need to be communicated verbally/non-verbally (written) in both French and English so that everyone understands. According to Statistics Canada (Census 2016), in Quebec, the number of people that spoke French most often at their home was 79%. Again, is still a decrease from the 80% recorded in 2011.

Finally in 1867, the United Canadas joined two other British Colonies, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to form the Dominion of Canada (McRoberts 1991, 413). French-Canadians continued to fight against assimilation and received autonomous privileges with exclusive jurisdiction over matters regarding its cultural distinctiveness***. Thus, the Francophone language and culture has always been at the forefront of Quebec priorities. Since Confederation, Quebec nationalist have felt that the Francophone language and culture has been at risk of assimilation by the rest of Canada. As a result, Quebec nationalism is fundamentally rooted in the preservation of the Francophone language and culture (Guiberneau 2006, 52). Political leaders in Quebec continuously urge for the recognition that Canada is composed of two nations or cultures (McRoberts 1991, 413). Prior to confederation Quebec enjoyed numerous autonomous privileges. Unfortunately, post-confederation Quebec did not enjoy as many autonomous privileges because Canada was created as a relatively centralized federation (Beland and Lecours 2007, 406). A centralized federation not only took several of these autonomous powers away from Quebec, but it also threatened the Francophone language and culture (Beland and Lecours 2007, 406). With this said, Quebec nationalism has placed a great deal of pressure on the federal government to decentralize, giving more powers to provincial governments.

Canada was set up to be a bi-lingual country for both English and French to be equally represented in the government. However, the number of French speakers began to disappear in the country. “In Quebec, 7.7% of the population reported English only as mother tongue, 78.1% reported French only, and 12.3% reported only a non-official language, in 2011. In comparison, the national percentages were 56.9% for English only, 21.3% for French only and 19.8% for non-official languages only” (Canada). While the providence is not officially bilingual, it is apparent that francophones are dominant in Quebec and Anglophones are more common in the rest of Canada. Before traveling, one should be sure to make note of the prominent language within that city to be

According to research conducted after the 1995 referendum, a large number of Quebecers, who speak French, believe that there is a real threat to the language. This is due to the fact that in the early 90s, francophones were the majority of people in Quebec, but that in the late 90s, they started to become the minority, which obviously scared a lot of people. By looking into more research as

In Canadian history, nationalism and sovereignty tend to be common themes prevalent since Confederation. A well-known example of this in Quebec was during the Quiet Revolution which strengthened the need for change through Premier Lesage’s reforms and in turn, developed a strong sense of nationalism in Quebec. In contrast to beliefs that the rapid modernization of the Quiet Revolution had a positive impact on Quebec, it rather had a negative impact on Quebec and its citizens and identity. The three consequences which arose in Quebec as a result of the revolution are the encouragement of separatism, the elimination of traditional values and roles and the establishment of powerful bureaucratic control. Quebec’s attempt to be more like the

While the rest of Canada employs the concept of multiculturalism, Quebec emphasizes on another theory: interculturalism, or the notion of support in cross-cultural dialogue and challenging self-segregation tendencies within cultures. In the province, the word multiculturalism announces pejorative meanings. This was due, in part, to the fact that “a federal commission which was charged several years ago with the task of developing policies for Canada, based on its bicultural and bilingual character emerged with a recommendation that Canada think of itself as a multicultural and bilingual country.3”. Francophones, on the other hand, felt that this concept placed them at the same level as minority ethnic groups, thus erasing their thoughts of being seen as one of the country's founding nations.

Outside of attempting to achieve sovereignty, the Parti Quebecois has advocated for French language and cultural rights within Canada and Quebec for its entire existence. The most prominent advocacy is perhaps Bill 101, which entrenches the rights of the French language in the Canadian constitution . Championed by Leveque’s government in 1977, it outlined the terms which protected the French language in Quebec by setting out the terms of its use and access. The move was crucial to maintaining the position of Quebec in conducting business and the language’s ability to be used in an official capacity where before the only inclusions were where the stipulations in the British North America Act . Instituting such protection as law has gone from being part of their platform to the focus, given the cultural force English Canada possesses compared to Quebec’s.

It is no secret that French-English relations in Canada have been strained in the past and still are – albeit to a lesser extent.